The tiger lunged at him again—but this time, Lathel didn't evade.
Instead, he pushed his already bitten arm and shoulder toward it, while his other hand gripped the axe and swung it downward.
GRAOO!!
The tiger used both front legs to kick into his chest.
The sound of breaking bones rang out, and the terrible pain made him scream.
Although Lathel was immortal, he could still feel pain.
That was also why when he committed suicide, he aimed for the head—dying instantly without needing to feel the pain.
But the axe blade fortunately struck the tiger's flank.
Lathel gritted his teeth, his eyes showing excitement.
'Excellent! I just need to wait until I resurrect, then I can kill it.'
Lathel thought inwardly, 'If one life can't kill you, then two lives, three lives. I don't believe that with my immortal body, I can't exhaust you.'
The Saber-Toothed Tiger seemed to sense something that made it uneasy.
Although the wounds on its leg and flank weren't fatal, it slowly retreated backward, then leaped into the forest and disappeared.
"What the hell?!" Lathel was startled and wanted to chase after it, but his blood had flowed out too much.
He lay still on the ground and very quickly died.
One minute later, he opened his eyes wide and slowly stood up, his body restored to its original state.
But Lathel's heart didn't feel comfortable.
"Damn it!" Lathel muttered a curse. "I just needed to resurrect and I could've killed it. Now it ran away—did I just die pointlessly?"
Right now it was a time of famine, but if he could just hunt a large tiger like that, he could earn a lot of money.
After all, it was a Saber-Toothed Tiger—everything on its body, whether hide, organs, meat, or bones, were all valuable things that could be exchanged for money.
But now the tiger had run away. Lathel could only sigh in frustration and continue carrying his axe, searching for snow rabbits and some small animals.
…
Half a day passed. Lathel carried three snow rabbits and one wild pheasant, placed them in a piece of cloth, then wrapped them tightly and carried them on his shoulder.
Fortunately, the Goblins seemed not to have appeared, so he was able to easily hunt this much. Otherwise, today he would have encountered those Goblins and might not have been able to hunt anything.
He also didn't follow the old path but took a longer detour, then crossed over a rotten bridge.
This bridge was already very weak—the wooden planks were broken, the support ropes were also rotten.
But Lathel wasn't afraid.
After all, he possessed an immortal body—even if he fell down below and died, he could still resurrect.
It took Lathel more than two hours to get back home.
Suddenly, he saw fresh footprints in front of his house and immediately frowned.
"These are… a man's footprints." Lathel lowered his head, looking at the footprints in the snow, assessing inwardly, "Still very fresh, the snow hasn't covered them yet. Probably came not long ago."
But those footprints were somewhat messy in front of his house, then led toward the distance.
Lathel could guess that this person had only stood in front of the door, didn't enter the house, seeming to hesitate about something, then left in the direction they came from.
'It looks like someone has been paying attention to Viviane,' Lathel thought inwardly.
He was certain of this because his house didn't have much food—no, now there was no food left at all.
In everyone's eyes, he was just a weak man who only knew how to read books and didn't know how to hunt. That's why the villagers always thought his house was the most lacking in food.
The most valuable thing in Lathel's house was Viviane.
A beautiful girl—whether sold to a brothel or used as a trading commodity—would bring tremendous value.
Lathel remembered that a month ago, there was a man in the village who sold his beautiful wife to a brothel in exchange for 30 kilograms of wheat and 5 kilograms of meat.
This incident frightened the other girls in the village to the point where they didn't dare eat much and tried even harder to find food, afraid that one day they too would be sold to a brothel.
Lathel looked around, his eyes observing carefully for a moment before knocking on the door.
"Viviane, it's me."
From inside came the sound of knocking.
Knock! Knock!
"Pi - five," Viviane's voice transmitted out.
Lathel immediately replied, "3.14159."
Crack!
The door opened, revealing Viviane's radiant face. The moment she saw him, her expression lit up with joy.
"Welcome home," she said warmly.
"Mm." Lathel smiled back.
He and Viviane had set a password that only people from Earth like them could know.
After all, this world wasn't a Fantasy full of dreams and beauty—it was ugly and filled with horror and suffering, even more so than Earth.
Being a bit cautious was still better.
Lathel entered the house. Viviane, like a wife, hurriedly took off his wide-brimmed hat and snow coat, then went into the kitchen and brought out a bucket of warm water.
"Quickly, wash your feet first. If not, your feet will freeze solid." Viviane made him sit on a chair, then gently removed his shoes.
Indeed, his toes had gradually turned purple.
Viviane pursed her lips, her hands gently massaging his feet to help blood circulate better, occasionally pouring warm water over them and continuing to massage.
Lathel also didn't refuse and sat still, enjoying the special service from Viviane.
After a while, she placed his feet into the bucket of warm water and let out a sigh.
"Next time, I'll try to make another pair of shoes for you. This pair can't keep warm very well."
Lathel smiled, took out the cloth bag and placed it on the table, gesturing for Viviane to open it.
She tilted her head looking at Lathel, then slowly opened the cloth bundle.
Right after that, she was surprised and opened her eyes wide.
"These are... you hunted this much?"
"How about that? Do you think I'm pretty cool?" Lathel laughed teasingly.
Viviane also smiled, but her eyes suddenly became moist.
"Hm?! What's wrong?" Lathel was startled and asked with a frown.
Viviane shook her head and hurriedly wiped away her tears, choking up as she spoke, "It's nothing, just... I feel... perhaps you went through a lot of hardship to hunt these animals."
"Ah!" Lathel scratched his head, also not knowing what to say.
In reality, snow rabbits were very easy to find. Although they were very fast, his Strength stat was now already 230, plus his Basic Close Combat skill—hunting a few snow rabbits was extremely simple.
But he didn't expect that Viviane thought he had been very adventurous, so she cried for him.
Lathel scratched his head and said gently, "Don't worry. After all, I once joined an adventurer group and explored Dungeons. Catching a few small animals is simple for me."
Viviane gently nodded, forcing a smile. "Mm! I understand."
She hurriedly carried the animals that Lathel hunted into the kitchen and began processing them.
Although Viviane was beautiful, she knew how to do everything. Whether it was processing small living animals, she wasn't afraid at all.
Lathel soaked his feet in the bucket of warm water, frowning as he thought about who had been loitering in front of his house.
If he didn't quickly find out who that person was, in the days ahead, if he wasn't home, perhaps that person would risk breaking into the house and taking Viviane away.
"The two thugs Nick and Bob have been killed by me. In the village, there are only a few suspicious targets left," Lathel muttered.
This village wasn't large, only about 500 people, so Lathel knew most everyone's information clearly.
Very quickly, Lathel filtered out two names—Borok and Rotto.
"Rotto went to town to earn money seven days ago, so only Borok remains. He's also the one who introduced that man to sell his wife to the brothel. Surely he's the one who has been monitoring Viviane."
Lathel muttered, his eyes becoming sharp. "Although I don't want to kill people, if you dare to target me, then..."
…
Viviane finished processing the three rabbits and the wild pheasant.
She had also peeled off the rabbit hides separately, planning to make them into shoes for Lathel, while the meat was cooked with salt so it could be preserved longer.
She took the only pheasant and cooked it into soup along with some wild vegetables she had found nearby.
In the room, thanks to the hot soup pot, the atmosphere became warmer.
After Lathel finished his bowl of chicken soup, Viviane hurriedly ladled him another bowl, caring for Lathel meticulously like a real wife.
She also ladled a separate bowl of soup for herself and said, "Lathel, I... can I bring this bowl of soup to Lucia?"
"Lucia?" Hearing that name, Lathel remembered a house at the end of the village, next to the edge of the Gloomy Forest.
Seeing Lathel frown, Viviane's heart grew anxious. "If it's not okay, then it's fine. I... I just feel she's very pitiful, so..."
"No!" Lathel shook his head and said, "Of course you can, but outside the snow is falling heavily. It would be safer if I go."
He had also met Lucia a few times.
She was an old woman about 80 years old, but everyone gossiped that she was a witch, so no one approached her and no one helped her either.
Lathel recalled the times he met Lucia—she always treated him very well. Occasionally, he would still bring some wild vegetables and fruit to her.
"Sorry, Lathel. Food is already very scarce, but..." Viviane felt guilty and spoke hesitantly.
"Hahaha... don't worry. If you have such a warm heart, then I should be happy, right?" Lathel laughed loudly.
Viviane also felt her heart warm much more because of his smile.
After eating, Viviane cleaned the table. Lathel carried the bowl of soup placed in a wooden box and went outside.
Suddenly, he frowned, sensing that someone seemed to be observing him.
Lathel thought inwardly, 'It seems... that rat couldn't be patient anymore.'